1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains generally to audio, video and data networks, and more particularly to providing audio, video and data content to and from consumer electronic devices using the electrical power wiring infrastructure of a building, or using a conventional wired or wireless LAN or WAN connected to the Internet.
2. Description of Related Art
Portable consumer electronic devices are becoming dependent in many cases on network connectivity to deliver audio and video content. The inconvenience of the cables which tether the devices to signal sources has become increasingly bothersome. Present wireless solutions address this problem, but the advantages of strictly wireless connections suffer limitations in range, bandwidth, and reliability. In addition, existing wireless solutions are not configured for cooperative operation with power-line communication (PLC) devices utilized on other virtual networks within the physical power-line communications network. It should be recognized that users of PLC networks share the bandwidth which is available from the destination-end power distribution transformer, wherein typically about five to ten or homes are connected to each power-line distribution transformer.
Existing short-range wireless standards such as IEEE 802.11a/b/g that were developed for local area networks (LAN) and Bluetooth™ developed for personal area networks (PAN) have certain inherent limitations in range, bandwidth and susceptibility to interference. For example, IEEE 802.11b operates in the 2.4 GHz ISM band and has a rated operating range of approximately 100 meters with approximately 33 Mbps total aggregate speed. Bluetooth™ has an approximate 10-meter range with 10 Mbps total aggregate speed in the low power mode.
Networks using the IEEE 802.11b standard often experience interference which can cause system crashes when certain electronic devices such as 2.4 GHz telephones are concurrently utilized. This interference is particularly challenging with regard to vertical networks which span one or more floors of a building.
One additional disadvantage to conventional fixed frequency wireless applications is the occurrence of multipath distortion due to radio waves bouncing off of objects and arriving at the receiver at slightly different times using different paths. Multipath distortion can cause dead zones and fading and can be particularly prevalent in cluttered commercial and busy home environments.